'Fiery' debate over contract to identify flood repair options in Kirkland Lake

The debate was passionate -- and some could even say 'fiery' -- around the Kirkland Lake town council table as officials voted on the next steps in recovering from April’s flood.

Kirkland Lake Fire Chief Earl Grigg, who had not even been in the position the year when floodwaters hit the community, filed a report to council asking them to approve a $58,000 sole sourcing contract of EXP Services Inc. to conduct an 'engineering review of the 2024 flood and concept remedial options.'

In short, EXP would be tasked with identifying repairs and or improvements that have to be made to the storm and sanitary systems to mitigate future flooding damage.

• Download the CTV News app now
• Get local breaking news alerts
• Daily newsletter with the top local stories emailed to your inbox

Back in April, heavy rainfall doused the community.

Snow and ice piles from winter were rapidly melted by the rainfall but the frozen ground prevented it from being absorbed into the earth. Ice in the storm system also impeded its efficiency.

The rainfall and runoff created a recipe for disaster, leading the Murdoch and Rand creeks to spill their banks.

A map of the flooding in the Town of Kirkland Lake as of April 12, 2024. (Supplied/Town of Kirkland Lake)

A state of emergency was declared and lasted the whole month.

In total, 69.88 mm of rainfall was recorded over 39 hours.

Hydrologists with the Ministry of Natural Resources estimated this to be a 1-in-2,000-year event.

Next steps, however, proved to be a bit of a stumbling block for council, of which two councillors disagreed on allowing the report to be sole-sourced to EXP.

"I'm not too comfortable with sole sourcing," said Coun. Lad Shaba.

"My question is that this is not the first time we’ve had flood issues in that part of the town. It's happened for a long time, this is not the first time. So what happened to those reports?"

His comments drew applause from the crowd, leading Mayor Stacy Wight to call out what she said was "unnecessary behaviour and unwelcome at the council meeting."

"I'm in agreement with Coun. Shaba in terms of sole sourcing. It’s not a transparent way of doing business and it sends the message once you do business with Kirkland Lake, nobody else need apply because you're going to go back to the same supplier over and over and over again," said Coun. Rick Owen.

Coun. Casey Owens took exception to the comments, revealing his home was one of the properties affected.

"If you look at the map zoomed in, my house is on there. I was lucky enough, that I caught it in time, me and my partner fought like hell, and I mean we fought to keep the water out," said Casey Owens.

"We fought until 1 o’clock in the morning pumping water out and we kept it to one area of the house and we fought and so to say 'sole sourcing,' I don’t care. Tell that to the guy or the person whose watching water come up in their basement and there’s nothing you can do about it. I don’t care about sole sourcing."

He said he was lucky enough to rectify the issue, but others in his neighbourhood weren’t so lucky.

After someone in the crowd shouted a name, Mayor Wight again told the gallery any further outbursts would not be tolerated and Casey Owens apologized.

"Isn't there something we can do in the meantime to show that we can show people we're cleaning up this supposed major artery that drains past the town and do something about it now … I don’t understand it," he said.

A look at the flooding in Kirkland Lake, Ont., on April 12, 2024. (Supplied/Alex Boudreault)

"I think you made a very good rationale for making this an exception to the rule and that we can just expedite this using the current contractor to do the report," said Coun. Janice Ranger who added environmental changes means the town can’t just wait for this to improve, things need to be expedited.

"I’m in support of not putting those out for tender and getting this out sooner rather than later."

In the end, council voted to approve the contract so EXP could begin its work.

An open house has been scheduled for Sept. 12 with the province, the mayor, the town's CAO and fire chief to answer questions.